New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the Indian Railways for overshooting the budget year after year. The CAG in its audit of 2010-11 has said that the Indian Railways is the backbone of the socio-economic growth of India but it is giving low priority to the safety-related works.

The report claimed that despite sufficient funds available in accounts, large number of road over-bridge and road under-bridge works were pending as on March 2011 and the budget allocations reflected low priority due to inadequate commitment by the railways.

The audit also stated that the railways took weak actions over the announcements made in the budget. The percentage of expenditure in excess of limits authorised by the Parliament has increased in the last three years from 1.88 percent in 2008-09 to 4.14 percent in 2010-11.

The CAG also found a huge gap in the budget as formulated and the budget as executed. It has been noted that the total value of railway assets as shown in the budget documents do not match with the assets shown in the Balance Sheet.

The audit also said that World's fourth largest rail network and the second largest in Asia, Indian Railways has recently attracted immense global attention due to its successful turnaround to profitability. Indian Railways has been consistently recording impressive growth rates for the last few years.